Saudis say journalist Jamal Khashoggi died in a 'fight' at their embassy

Secretary of State Pompeo, left, met with Saudi Arabia's King Salman in Riyadh, over the disappearance and alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, who vanished two weeks ago during a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. (Leah Mills / AP)

The ruler of Saudi Arabia has admitted that Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi died inside his country’s Istanbul embassy, claiming he was killed in a fight, according to a state-run news agency.

“The kingdom expresses deep regret,” according to the mouthpiece of Saudi King Salman, who has begun to take a greater role in the effort to quell the fallout from the dissident’s demise.

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The king has ordered a shakeup of the country's intelligence service and fired a royal court adviser close to the crown prince, who is suspected to have ordered the assassination.

Saudi prosecutors said that 18 suspects have been detained in connection with the murder.

Turkey’s foreign minister said Friday “evidence” of Khashoggi’s killing would soon be released publicly — but rejected a report that his country has already shared audio that’s alleged to capture the gruesome final moments of the Washington Post columnist with the U.S.

The Saudi government had denied that Khashoggi was slaughtered and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

However, growing global backlash and mounting pressure to explain what happened to Khashoggi prompted the elderly Saudi king to get involved in the situation, Reuters reported Friday.

Salman has been “asserting himself” in the affair, a source told the news agency.

Last week, the 82-year-old dispatched Prince Khaled al-Faisal, the governor of Mecca and one of his most trusted aides, to Istanbul to try to defuse the crisis as Turkish officials linked a crew of 15 suspects to his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Faisal, described as “a senior royal with high status” with “very strong ties and a friendship with Erdogan,” met one-on-one with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The meeting led to an agreement to form a joint working group to investigate Khashoggi’s disappearance — and brought about a change in King Salman’s attitude.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared on Oct. 2 after visiting his country’s consulate in Istanbul and may have been killed. (Virginia Mayo / AP)

The crown prince and his aides initially thought the crisis would pass but they “miscalculated its repercussions,” another source said.

Khashoggi entered the consulate on Oct. 2, looking for paperwork required to marry his Turkish fiancée. Turkish authorities have said that audio exists of the 60-year-old’s horrifying final moments.

Officials told state newspapers that Khashoggi was tortured and dismembered within minutes of entering the building. His fingers were cut off and he was beheaded as his fiancée waited outside, officials said.

Both the consulate and the Saudi consul’s residence were searched this week and investigators on Friday questioned staff from the Saudi Consulate.

Turkish officials said they were also looking at the possibility that the journalist may have been taken to a forest near Istanbul after he was killed inside the diplomatic mission.

President Trump, after days of defiantly defending the Saudis, said Thursday that it “certainly looks” as though Khashoggi was dead, adding that the consequences “will have to be very severe” if they are found to have killed him.

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He added on Friday that it's still “too early” to determine potential consequences but that he expects to know more by Monday.

“We’re going to find out who knew what when and where and we'll figure it out,” Trump said.

The king spoke directly with Erdogan and Trump in recent days, according to Reuters. Secretary of State Pompeo met with both the king and his son in Riyadh earlier in the week, warning them that the U.S. is taking the situation “seriously.”

The crown prince, with the blessing of his father, has increasingly acted as the kingdom’s de facto leader in recent years, aggressively consolidating power and restructuring the Saudi government. He has maintained a close relationship to the Trump family and regularly communicates with Trump son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner.

A former head of Britain's MI6 overseas intelligence agency said Friday that Khashoggi was likely killed on the orders of people close to the crown prince.

John Sawers, who headed MI6 between 2009 and 2014, said “all the evidence points to it being ordered and carried out” by people close to the 33-year-old heir to the throne — and that the crown prince may have been emboldened by his close ties to the Trump administration.

Sawers told the BBC that “I don’t think he would have done this if he hadn't thought he had license from the U.S. administration to frankly behave as he wished to do so.”